NEW YORK – The Brooklyn Nets gave P.J. Carlesimo a victory in his debut and the Charlotte Bobcats a 17th straight loss, getting 26 points and 11 rebounds from Brook Lopez in a 97-81 rout Friday night.
A day after firing Avery Johnson, the Nets played as they did last month, when they were 11-4 and Johnson was Eastern Conference coach of the month. They are just 4-10 in December, a slump that cost Johnson his job, but got back over .500 with ease.
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Deron Williams added 17 of his 19 points in the first half and Joe Johnson had 16 for the Nets, who led by 29 points and won for just the second time in seven games.
Hakim Warrick scored 13 points and Ramon Sessions had 12 for the Bobcats (7-22), who shot 38 percent and haven’t won since tying last season’s total with their seventh victory.
PISTONS 109, HEAT 99: Will Bynum had 25 points and 10 assists, leading another spirited performance by the Detroit bench, and the Pistons beat short-handed Miami despite 35 points by LeBron James.
Miami was without Dwyane Wade, suspended for a game by the NBA for flailing his leg and making contact with a Charlotte player Wednesday.
WIZARDS 105, MAGIC 97: Jordan Crawford scored 27 points and the worst-in-the-NBA Washington showed it can still win a game every once in a while, breaking an eight-game losing streak
The game represented one-quarter of the win total for the 4-23 Wizards, who have been stymied in part by the knee injury that has kept franchise player John Wall on the sidelines.
PACERS 97, SUNS 91: George Hill scored 22 points, including three 3-pointers, and led Indiana over Phoenix.
Paul George had 15 points, and David West added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who have won four straight and 7 of 8.
Sebastian Telfair had 19 points and six assists, and Marcin Gortat had 15 points for the Suns, who have lost four straight.
HAWKS 102, CAVALIERS 94: Jeff Teague scored a career-high 27 points and Atlanta scored the game’s final nine points to beat Cleveland.
Teague’s jumper from the foul line gave the Hawks a 95-94 lead with 2:32 remaining to spark the late run and send Atlanta to its third straight win.
RAPTORS 104, HORNETS 97: DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points, Kyle Lowry had two big baskets in overtime and Toronto held off New Orleans.
The Raptors, who never trailed in the second half, scored nine of the first 11 points in overtime after blowing a seven-point lead in the last 1:30 of regulation.
NUGGETS 106, MAVERICKS 85: Danilo Gallinari scored a career-high 39 points for Denver while the Mavericks lost their fifth straight.
SPURS 122, ROCKETS 116: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili combined to score 84 points, and San Antonio snapped Houston’s five-game winning streak.
THURSDAY’S LATE GAME
CLIPPERS 106, CELTICS 77: Matt Barnes tied his season high with 21 points off the bench, Chris Paul had 11 assists and the Clippers won at home, becoming the first team to win 15 consecutive games since the Celtics four years ago.
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